A cooking apparatus in one known form includes a vat or fry pot for storing a cooking medium. The medium may be, for example, frying oil or shortening. The cooking medium is heated, such as with a gas burner or electric heating element, to a level suitable for cooking. A food product to be cooked is usually held in a fry basket which can then be lowered manually or automatically into the frying oil. The elevated temperature of the oil cooks the food product, as is well known. A typical such cooking apparatus is used in restaurants. As such, it is desirable to provide uniformity of performance. For example, with a product such as french fries, it is desirable that each batch be cooked virtually identically to maintain consistent satisfaction with customers.
Assuming ideal cooking conditions, a uniform cooking cycle can be provided to maintain uniformity. A typical prior cooking apparatus includes a burner or electric heating element controlled by a thermostatic control to maintain generally uniform temperature of the cooking medium. The cooking cycle is normally controlled to satisfy a preselected period of time. However, each cooking cycle is not necessarily identical. For example, the temperature of the product and its weight affect oil temperature. Deviations from normal expected temperatures result in under or overcooking of the food product. Strong, U.S. Pat. No. 3,397,993, discloses a process for avoiding such problems which is operable to shorten or extend the cooking time period according to deviations in oil temperature.
Most early designs for fryer controllers controlled cooking cycle time to provide uniformity. Because of high energy costs it is also desirable to maintain uniformity in oil temperature. This is difficult to accomplish because of the affects of food product on oil temperature, as discussed above. Moreover, the addition of particulate matter to the oil can also affect the oil temperature. It is desirable to maintain consistent energy usage with each batch.
The disclosed invention is directed to solving one or more of the problems discussed above.